Journal of Abnormal Psychology 1993. Vol. 102, No. 4,607-615 Copyright 1993 by the American Psychological Association, Inc. 002I-843X/93/S3.00 Negative Cognitions and Attributional Style in Depressed Adolescents: An Examination of Stability and Specificity Ian H. Gotlib, Peter M. Lewinsohn, John R. Seeley, Paul Rohde, and Julie E. Redner Despite recent findings that the prevalence of unipolar depression is as high in adolescents as it is in adults, relatively little is known about the applicability of cognitive theories of depression to adoles- cents. The present study examined the nature, specificity, and stability of cognitive dysfunction in male and female depressed, remitted, and psychiatric control adolescents. Factor analysis of a diverse set of measures yielded two factors, labelled Negative Cognitions and Attributional Style. Scores on both these factors were related to a current diagnosis of depression. Results also indicated that there may not be complete recovery of cognitive functioning (or of depressed mood) with diagnostic remission of depression. Finally, whereas elevated scores on the Negative Cognitions factor appeared to be specific to depression, the depressed and psychiatric control adolescents did not differ with respect to their scores on the Attributional Style factor. Of all the psychiatric disorders, depression is by far the most common, annually affecting more than 100 million people worldwide. During the course of a lifetime, it is estimated that between 8% and 18% of the general population will experience at least one clinically significant episode of depression (Karno et al., 1987). Moreover, for approximately 15% of these individ- uals, the depressive episode will result in suicide. It is clear, therefore, that the problem of depression is considerable, and its consequences potentially lethal. A number of investigators assessing psychological aspects of depression have focused on the cognitive functioning of de- pressed persons. Indeed, three major psychological theories of depression accord central importance to cognitive functioning in the onset of this disorder. Beck (1976) focused on the "cogni- tive triad," cognitive distortions or faulty information process- ing, and the negative self-schemata of depressed persons. Beck postulated that depressed individuals exhibit a negative viewof themselves, their experiences, and the future. He suggests fur- ther that depressed persons are characterized by systematic errors in thinking, including arbitrary inference, selective ab- straction, and all-or-none thinking. Finally, Beck postulated that depressed persons are characterized by negative schemata, cognitive processes that represent a stable characteristic of de- pressed individuals' personalities and that are present even in the absence of depressive symptoms. These negative schemata are hypothesized to play a causal role in depression by in- fluencing the selection, encoding, and evaluation of stimuli in the environment, which leads subsequently to depressive affect. Ian H. Gotlib, Department of Psychology, Northwestern University; Peter M. Lewinsohn, John R. Seeley, Paul Rohde, and Julie E. Redner, Oregon Research Institute, Eugene, Oregon. Preparation of this article was facilitated by Grant 6606-3465-51 from Health and Welfare Canada to Ian H. Gotlib, and National Insti- tute of Mental Health Research Grants MH35672 and MH40501 to Peter M. Lewinsohn. Correspondence concerning this article should be sent to Ian H. Gotlib, Department of Psychology, 102 Swift Hall, Northwestern Uni- versity, Evanston, Illinois 60208. In a similar model, Rehm (1977) suggested that specific defi- cits in self-monitoring, self-evaluation, and self-reinforcement may explain the various symptoms of depression. For example, Rehm suggested that depressed individuals selectively attend to negative events that follow their behavior to the relative exclu- sion of positive events, a cognitive style that might account for the pessimism and gloomy outlook of depressed individuals. Similarly, Rehm postulated that depressed persons set unrealis- tic and stringent standards for themselves and make inaccurate attributions of causality. Rehm also suggested that depressed individuals are characterized by relatively low rates of self-rein- forcement and high rates of self-punishment. Finally, the reformulated learned helplessness model of de- pression (Abramson, Seligman, & Teasdale, 1978), and the more recent extension of this model, the hopelessness theory of depression (Abramson, Metalsky, & Alloy, 1989) maintains that vulnerability to depression derives from a habitual style of ex- plaining the causes of life events, known as attributional, or explanatory, style. Explanatory style is viewed as a trait that has its origins in early childhood experiences; thus, individuals are expected to exhibit cross-situational and temporal consistency in their causal explanations for events (cf. Brewin, 1985). Indi- viduals with a depressogenic attributional style not only have learned to believe that previous events in their lives were uncon- trollable but also expect that future outcomes will similarly be out of their control. The onset of a depressive episode is precipi- tated by the occurrence of an important negative event that triggers the expectation of the uncontrollability of future nega- tive events. Abramson et al. postulated that persons who are prone to depression tend to attribute negative outcomes to in- ternal, global, and stable factors, even when they are not symp- tomatically depressed (cf. Sweeney, Anderson, & Bailey, 1986). As in Beck's model, these patterns of attributions are hypothe- sized to play a causal role in the development of depression. Numerous studies have drawn on these theories in examin- ing the relation between cognitive functioning and depression. This literature has been summarized in several recent reviews (e.g., Gotlib, 1992; Gotlib & McCabe, 1992; Peterson & Selig- 607